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1.0 DECISION <br />Based upon my review of the Bulldog Underground Exploration and Development Project Environmental <br />Assessment (EA) dated May2013 and Specialist Reports located in the Project Record, both hereby <br />incorporated by reference, I have decided to implement Alternative 2, Proposed Action, which <br />authorizes Rio Grande Silver, Inc. (RGS)to utilize approximately 12 acres of National Forest System lands <br />to bury water pipelines, expand a waste rock storage area, and establish a temporary staging area to be <br />used while pipelines are being installed in order to expand its underground development and <br />exploration activities into areas below the existing water table level at the Bulldog Mine located in <br />Mineral County, Colorado. <br />The project is forecast to continue activities for 18 to 36months. Details of the underground exploration <br />program into the submerged zones of the Bulldog Mine (proposed action alternative) are included in the <br />July 2012 Plan of Operations for Underground Exploration and Development at the Bulldog Mine, <br />including amendments, as submitted to the Forest Service by RGS. The total area of disturbance is <br />approximately 12 acres of National Forest System lands, 10.2 of those acres were previously disturbed <br />by past activities; 1.8 acres is new disturbance. The majority of the disturbance on National Forest lands <br />would be for the buried water pipelines (5.8 acres) and the expansion of the 9400 portal waste rock <br />storage facility (3.2 acres). <br />My decision incorporates implementation of the environmental protection measures set forth in <br />Appendix B, Proponent Committed Management and Design Criteria as set forth by the Forest Service, <br />in the Bulldog Underground Exploration and Development Project Environmental Assessment. <br />1.1 DECISION RATIONALE <br />The Federal Government's policy for minerals resource management is expressed in the Mining and <br />Minerals Policy Act of 1970: "foster and encourage private enterprise in the development of <br />economically sound and stable industries and in the orderly and economic development of domestic <br />resources to help assure satisfaction of industrial, security, and environmental needs." <br />The Forest Service recognizes that prospectors and miners have a statutory right, under the Mining Law <br />of May 10, 1872 (as amended), the Surface Resources Act of 1955, 30 USC, 611 -615 (sometimes referred <br />to as the Multiple Use Mining Act of 1955, or Public Law 167), and the Organic Administration Act of <br />1897, to utilize certain National Forest System lands for the purposes of locatable mineral exploration, <br />development, and production. <br />The Forest Service may not unreasonably restrict the exercise of that right. It is not within Forest Service <br />purview to dictate mineral and geologic exploration targets, but rather to minimize or eliminate the <br />adverse environmental impacts associated with conducting this type of activity, in accordance with <br />Forest Service regulations at 36 Code of Federal Regulations(CFR) 228A. These regulations set forth the <br />rules and procedures through which the use of the surface of National Forest System lands in <br />connection with operations authorized by the US Mining Laws shall be conducted. <br />Under these same regulations, the Forest Service requires operators to submit a Plan of Operations <br />whenever the proposed mineral operations will likely cause a disturbance of surface resources. In <br />accordance with the regulations, Rio Grande Silver filed a Plan of Operations for the Bulldog <br />Bulldog Underground Exploration and Development Project DN/FONSI Page 2 <br />